La. Tech's Dykes continues to debunk statistical lies

Kate Dykes noted that the five most penalized teams in the country are a combined 19-4 so far this fall.

Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Dykes doesn't have much chance to get away from football these days. Being the first Bulldogs football coach since the 1970s to be undefeated at this point in the season has a way of commanding folks attention.

Some people also like to take shots at you when your team is doing well while also searching for ways to put you back in your place. There are a lot of "yeah, buts" out there heading into this weekend's home game against UNLV.

"So you're 4-0, yeah, but your team leads the country in penalties."

That would be true.

But Dykes' wife, Kate, pointed out an NCAA statistic earlier this week that debunks the belief that lots of penalties translates into lots of losses.

It seems the top five most penalized teams in the country (Tech, Utah State, Nevada, UCLA and Oregon State are a combined 19-3 so far this season. The sixth team in the rankings, UAB, is winless, however.

Dykes doesn't discount the need to cut down on penalties, but he acknowledges there's a reason for the mistakes.

"We are playing a lot of plays. There is going to be more yards in these games ... more plays in these games. If there are more plays, there are more opportunities for penalties," he said. "We want to play aggressive football and sometimes we make some mistakes and have some penalties."

Tech is one of the country's leaders in a number of offensive categories, "yeah, but, your defense sucks."

That would be true, if you go strictly by the NCAA's total defensive statistics. The Bulldogs are 118 out of 120 schools listed in the NCAA standings. But they are third nationally in turnover margin with nine fumble recoveries and four interceptions against just four fumbles of their own.

And then there is time of possession -- only eight FBS schools have a worse time of possession than Louisiana Tech. Combine those three stats, and the Bulldogs would seem to be better suited for an 0-4 record.

Yeah, but, that's because there are lies and darn lies.

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La. Tech's Dykes continues to debunk statistical lies

Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Dykes doesn?t have much chance to get away from football these days. Being the first Bulldogs football coach since the 1970s to be undefeated at this point in the season